Lt. R Inge - RNAS

I have an envelope sent to the UK dated 11 November 1916 from Friedburg POW camp in Germany by a Sub. Lt. R M Inge.

Cox & Cos Officer POW list only has one officer called Inge listed, Lt R Inge of the RNAS but with no information on date missing. He is shown as being interned in Holland from 30 April 1918 and repatriated on 26 November 1918.

Lt R M Inge was the observer in Short 184 No 8038 from Dover, flown by FSLt A T M Cowley, when they were forced to land in the North Sea and then captured by a U-Boat on 6 May 1916. Both airmen were moved to the Netherlands on 30 April 1918.

Interestingly, this incident is not mentioned in German U-boat sources. The location suggests a Flanders-based boat was involved. Presuming the date is correct, the boat involved would appear to have been either UC 7 or UC 10. You'd have to check their KTBs (war diaries) for confirmation.

Now established that Cowley and Inge’s plane, which was forced down by engine trouble, was sighted by the German "torpedo boats" (destroyers to just about any other navy of the time) V 47 and V 67 off the coast of Flanders. The two aviators were taken prisoner and Shorts seaplane was towed in to Zeebrugge.